Improved apparatus for regulating and measuring the intensity of electric currents



No. 19,642. PATENTED MAR. 16, 1858. I. LAOASSAGNE & R. THIERS. APPARATUSFOR REGULATING AND MEASURING THE INTENSITY OP ELECTRIC CURRENTS.

m: Noam rrrzns c0, PHOTO-LUNG" VVASHINGYON. u. c,

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.=

JOSEPH LAOASSAGNE AND RUDOLPHE THIERS, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REGULATING AND MEASU RING THE INTENSITY 0FELECTRIC CURRENTS.

. Specificatio1.1 forming part of Letters Patent No. 19,642, dated March16, 1858.

' Our invention relates to an apparatus torrenderlng electric. currentsregular and constant,

whatever may be the variationsin the battery employed; also, forregulating the intensity of the electric current to any extent required,and

for indicating the amount of dynamical electricity expended upon anykind of work.

This apparatus is founded upon the combi:

- nation of the following three'well-known principles':: First, when agalvanic currentis made in g than the wires of the battery, theintensity or quantity of electricity set. in motion in a given time isinversely proportional to the resistance which it experiences passingthrough the liquid, and this resistance maybe regulated' eitherbyiucreasing or diminishing the conducting powers of the'liquid, or byincreasing or reducing the number of contact-points immersed in thesame; second, when the surfaces of the conductors immersed are of suchmetal as is not attacked by the liquid-plati-na, for instance-gases maybe obtained in the free state which are evolved by decomposition oftheliquid by the electric current, the quantity of gas obtained beingproportional to the iiitensity of the current or to the quantity ofelectricity to which the immersing-liquid has given passage; third, theattracting power of an electro-magnet varies, cwtcris part'bus, in thesame proportion as the intensity of the current which creates the same.'.Having thus set forth the leading principles upon which our apparatusis constructed, we

will now briefly describe the way in which they may be combined andapplied so as to form a. I regulating apparatus.

Let us suppose one of the conducting-wires of a working battery to becut in two, each of the extremities carrying a plat-ina plate, bothbeing suspended inside'a glass bell of a gasometer or gas-holdercontaining water, that has been rendered conducting by being slightlyacidulated with sulphuric acid. Thus, accord ing to pne of theprinciples above stated, the gasometer will rise or sink according asthe gas evolved is let out of or kept in the same. The rising of thebell will produce a constant diminution of intensity by reducing thesurface of platina immersed, while the reverse effect will take place ifby letting the gases issue the bell'is made to sink, and thus the pointsof contact between the platina and the intervening liquids areincreased. There is also an electro-magnet having, an armature with alever, the fulcrum of which is placed on one of the branches of theelectro-magnet, and a spring or sliding weight being applied to one ofthe ends of the lever. The current being sent through the coil, themagnetic attraction will act contrarily to said spring or weight, and

o'vercome its force or not, acccording as the one to pass through aliquid that is less conductv or. the other is greater.

To complete this apparatus, one of the coils which is to act upon thearmature is bored out cylindrical inside, and through this coil passes atube which communicates with the inside of the bell of the gas-holder.The end of the ar- I mature thus shutting or opening this tube, it maybe made to act as avalve. Thus, the spring tending to draw down theopposite end of the armature, if the magnetic attraction is morepowerful than the force of the spring the armature will be in closecontact with the mouth of the tube, and the gas, thus being preventedescaping, raises the gasometer bell and plates out of contact; hence theintensity of the current transmitted and the magnetic -power in thecoils above mentioned is diminished till the latter equals or is lessthan the tension of the spring, when the armature end rises from thepipe-mouth above mentioned and allows some gas to escape until thecurrent becomes again strong enough to slant the pipe, and the sameaction is repeated over again, thus afiording a means of regulating theforce of the current by the spring or weightbalancin g the magmeticattraction of the coils.

In order to avoid the rapid oscillations of the armature, which isattracted by the spring and electromagnet alternately, we use a cock ortap for letting out the gases evolved in the inside of the bell of thegasometer. By trymg the position of this tap, it may beset to anyopening required so as 'to'let out' the same .mature. The gases'thusescaping may be conput down upon ah'ydro-pneumatic trough, and,

metric regulator.

. with acidulated Water, for keeping the liquid "of the gas-meter alwaysat the same level; G i H I, cocks and tubes by means of which theacidulated water is made to pass from the resinterior part of theelectro-magn'et U V. This 'electro-m agnet has a coilof copper wire,wound municating with the conducting-wire P, and

quantity of gas'constantly that would be let out intermittently by theoscillations of the arducte'd into a "graduated'test-glass, which is byusing a table of electrochemical equivalents when the battery is usedfor electrotypin g, the quantity of gold silver, or other metaldeposited in a given time may be ascertained or read off from the scaleof the test-glass.

The accompanying drawings will bear out what has been said above,showing Figure 1 an elevation, and Fig, 2 a plan,'of the electro- Thesame letters of reference stand. for like parts in both figures. I

A B O D is the framing of the regulator; F, copper reservoir containinga bell filled .with silk as usual, the endX of said Wire comthe otherwith the plate 11, to which it is secured by a set-screw, V. Y Z,armature for shutting and opening the orifice of the tube S T. a is aset-screw for regulating-the travel of the armature Y Z. b represents anut and screw for regulating the'tension of the coiled 1 spring 0 d,scale showing the actual tension of said spring by means of a hand, 0;fg h, india rubber tubes which, are secured to the taps placed at i jrespectively. These taps are for giving passage to the gases formed inthebell K. l, india-rubber tube for conducting the gases that areevolved in the bell K into a test-glass, s m, square of a tap, theopen-v ing of which is regulated by the button a, which gears into thesector 0 10 q, hand for showing upon a divided are, r, the amount towhich the tapm is opened, so as to show the different quantities of gasthat pass into the test-glass s in a given time; s, test-glass, tha

-is graduated so as to show the cubic contents of gas which hasbeeu'collected from the gasometerJ K t, smallhydro-pneumatictrough a,copper plate to which the conducting-wire O is secured by a set-screw;0, copper plate to which the conducting-wire P is secured. The regulatoris placed on one of the conducting-wires of the working-battery by meansof these two plates, so that the current must necessarily pass throughthe regulator. A

B, cord and counter-weight, passing over pulleys and regulating thepressure exerted by the gasometer-bell E F, small brass rods that slidein tubes forguiding the bell K in'its ascending and descending motion.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Oombinin g the application of the three principles herein specified soasto form an apparatus for regulating and measuring the force orintensity of the electric current produced by any battery, andapplicable to telegraphin g and-motive purposes, substantially as hereinset forth.

' J. LAOASSAGNE.

v RPHE. THIERS. Witnesses:

T. FEUILLAT, ANDORNE.

